White-tailed deer have evolved a remarkable survival strategy. When fawns are born, they are nearly odorless, a natural defense that helps them stay hidden from predators like coyotes and bobcats, who rely on smell to hunt. Their spotted coats provide camouflage, and for the first weeks of life they remain still and silent, waiting for their mothers to return and nurse them.

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A mother doe goes to extraordinary lengths to protect her newborn.

Immediately after birth, she carefully licks her fawn clean, removing any fluids or scent that might attract predators. This maternal grooming is nature’s way of erasing the fawn’s “signature,” leaving it nearly undetectable. To further shield her young, she hides the fawn in tall grass or brush and only returns briefly to nurse, so her own scent doesn’t give away the location.

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But this fragile protection collapses in the face of packs of hunting dogs. Unlike natural predators, dogs are trained to sweep through forests and fields, chasing whatever moves. Even if a fawn has no scent, the chaos of dogs crashing through brush can flush them out or separates them from their mothers.

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Once separated, the fawn’s greatest defense is gone. Alone, it becomes easy prey, abandoned, or starves to death.

 

One Florida game warden, who will remain anonymous, recalled a haunting scene during dog training season: a pregnant doe, in the middle of giving birth, fleeing for her life with hounds at her heels. As she ran, the two back legs of her fawn were already protruding, the birth interrupted. Instead of the quiet, hidden safety nature intended, this mother was forced into a desperate race she could not stop.

 

This is a brutal snapshot of the hidden cruelty behind training dogs on deer.​

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​This is what modern day deer dog hunting does to wildlife. Sign and share our petition protecting black bears from this fate.